Analyst Don Hoover remains bullish even after sketching out farmland’s price volatility, its potential for double-digit declines in coming years and reasons why the market might be turning down.

“If I had a million dollars today, would I go invest it in farmland? The answer is, ‘yes,’ ” said Hoover, president of farmland appraisal company Serecon.

Terry Longtin, vice- president of the Farmers National Co. in Grand Forks, North Dakota, shared that view, even after seeing farmland prices in his area fall in the past year.

“I agree. I would do the same thing with it,” said Longtin.

The farmland value experts told Informa Economics’ annual Canadian farm outlook conference that farmland prices can fall when farm net earnings decline or interest rates rise.

However, they can be relatively stable compared to other investments.

“There is less variability and fluctuations in the land value than there is in gold,” said Hoover, who based his observations on decades of data.

“Investing in farmland is probably a more stable investment than gold or oil or the Canadian economy.”

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